PUblick Mourning is properly to be undertaken upon Public Accounts . That is , when the Sins of a People are grown loud and high ; and Judgments or Calamities , by reason of them , are heavy upon them , or like to be so . Then is the season of Public Mourning , as being of singular Use to remove those Judgments , or avert them ; by procuring Pardon for such provoking Sins , as were the Cause , or might be the sad Occasion of them .

As for the Ordering or Appointing this sort of Mourning , it belongs to the Magistrates . Their Office and Care it is , to call the People that are under them to it , and to put them upon it , where they find it needful to be done . For Supreme Magistrates being * * Ultriusque tabulae custodes . Keepers of both the Tables of the Law ; they are firmly obliged to take care of Religion , as well as of Political , or State-affairs . And so whenever they apprehend Religious Fasting and Mourning to be necessary , they are bound to Command their Subjects to the same , that are under their Government , and can conveniently join in them . And to make good this , there are several Examples in holy Scripture , of Princes , in joining their respective Subjects to perform these Duties . Some of these Examples we shall by and by touch upon .

If we look to the Rise of Public Mourning , we shall find it Early in the Church . In Samuel's days the Jews were no Strangers to it . For in the first of those Books which bear that Prophet's Name , it is remembred ; * * Chap. 7.5 , 6. that all Israel were gathered together to Mizpeh , and drew Water , and poured it out before the LORD , and fasted in that day , and said there , We have sinned against the LORD . There are that imagine this Water was Water of Trial , like that of Jealousy . And accordingly they tell us , that as many as drank of it , if they were Idolaters , their Lips by Virtue of it would cleave together ; and that so fast , as not to be parted . But the Water here was not to be drank , but was poured out : and therefore this seems to be a meer Fancy ; and indeed it is no other than a Rabbinical Fiction . Others by this Water understand more rightly , Poenitential Tears . And so the Chaldee Paraphrase makes it to be . For that says , that repenting of their sins , they drew water out of the Well of their heart , and wept abundantly before the LORD . And Grotius is of this opinion , * * Aqua effusa lachrimas significat . In loc. that the Water poured out signifies Tears . And of the same Judgment is Junius ; That it is an † † Hyperbolica description ingentis lamentationis , quasi dicat , eos lachrimarum rivos ex intimo sonte cordis haustos , oculis coram Domino profudisse . In loc. Hyperbolical Description of a great Lamentation ; as if he should say , that from their Eyes they poured out those Rivers of Tears , which they drew from the inward fountain of their Heart .

THO' Public Mourning is besides our Purpose , yet let not that little which we have said concerning it be thought impertinent : the Design of it being but to excite us to it , and ingage us in it , when at any time it shall be imposed or required . We are now to speak to private Religious Mourning . And this is matter of our free choice . We enter upon it voluntarily , or of our own accord , without any intervention of the Civil Power , or Compulsion from it . As it relates to Others , it hath respect to two Evils , their Miseries and their Impieties .

First , unto their Miseries . And as it dwells upon them , it springs up from a sympathetic Principle . I mean , from those Bowels of Compassion , Mercy , or Commiseration , which the holy and elect of God are to put on , Col. 3.12 . Those choice Persons that are happy in a true Sanctification , are full of Pity ; of Pity so tender and affectionate , as commonly makes them prone to Tears . Being high in the Evangelical Spirit or Temper , they come up to the Evangelical Rule or Precept , Weep with them that weep , Rom. 12.15 . And if we weep and mourn for our Brethrens outward Afflictions , it is no more than what our Religion obliges us to . For where the Christian Law injoins us to be all of one mind , and to be loving to the Brethren , 1 Pet. 3.8 . it means we should be , and it intends to make us of so sweet a Temper , and of Spirits so united , and mutually endeared , as not to fail in sympathizing with our Suffering Brethren ; tho' their Troubles be but secular and external , so they be really sharp or heavy .

This may seem a melancholy Doctrine , yet to practise it is much our Duty , and therefore let us do it . Whenever we hear , or where-ever we see any good People under GOD's hand , let us duly lay their Condition to heart . If they labour and groan under War , or Famine , or Pestilence , or Persecution , or the like Judicial , or Providential Severities ; let us be affected with their deplorable Calamities , and think of their Infelicities with Sorrowful Resentments . To this the Apostle instructs us powerfully , where He elegantly compares the whole Community of Christians to a body Organical ; telling us , that tho' they be Many Members , yet they are but One Body , 1 Cor. 12.20 . And then from the Comparison He rightly inferrs the Sympathy we speak of ; that if one member suffers , all the members suffer with it , v. 26. So that not to be toucht with a Compassionate fellow-feeling of good Christians Sufferings , makes it questionable whether we be true living Members of CHRIST's Mystical Body ; or rather it puts it past all Question , by making it evident that we are not such . And tho' hearty Sympathizing with the Righteous in their Sufferings , was never so clearly taught , and forcibly recommended , as now under the Gospel ; yet on the Religious it was incumbent before , long before that blessed Dispensation came into the World . As much may be gathered from that Passage , Amos 6.5 , 6. For there the Prophet charged it as a Fault upon some in his Time , that they were unconcerned for good Mens Adversity , and addicted themselves to Pleasures , while they Languisht in Trouble . They chaunted to the Sound of the Viol , and invented to themselves Instruments of Music like David ; they drank Wine in Bowls , and anointed themselves with chief Ointments ; but they were not grieved for the Affliction of Joseph . For us to live in high Delights , and to give up our selves to be Merry and Gay , when the Church of GOD is grievously afflicted , and in great Tribulation ; must needs be a Crime , and none of the Least , by its falling thus under a Prophet's Reproof . Very different from this , was the King of Israel's Carriage , even to Evil Men , and such as derided Him , and were injurious to Him . When they were sick , says He , my Clothing was Sack-cloth , I humbled my Soul with Fasting . — I behaved my self as a Friend , or Brother ; I bowed down heavily as one that Mourneth for His Mother , Psal. 35.13 , 14. How divinely Soft and Sympathetic was the Temper of this good Prince ! When unworthy Wretches , base in themselves , and spiteful to Him , fell into Misery ; he Fasted and Mourned , and wore Sackcloth for them . Tho' they scorned , and maligned , and aspersed Him ; yet he prayed most heartily and importunately for them : for GOD's Mercy to them , for His Blessing upon them , for His Deliverance of them . O that we did but demean our selves towards our best Friends when miserable , and to the choicest and most eminent Servants of God , as this renowned Monarch did towards his Enemies , and hypocritical mockers , as they are there termed . Yet we are happy in a nobler Dispensation than he was ; and live in that time , when , according to the inspired mans Prediction , he that is feeble shall be as David , Zech. 12.8 .

And as we must mourn in private for others Miseries ; so we must , 2ly , for their Impieties . And indeed much more for them , there being much more reason for it . Tho what the Reasons for it are , we need not here consider . We 'll rather note at present , that Charity is the Principle from which it flows , and that in this sort of mourning , we exercise that Principle . And can we set it a Work upon a better Account ? I believe that excellent man thought he could not , whose Wish it was , Oh that my Head were Waters , and mine Eyes a Fountain of Tears , that I might weep Day and Night , for the slain of the Daughter of my People , Jer. 9.1 . But surely he meant ( as in other places it appears ) to weep more for those that were slain morally by Sin , than for those that were to be slaughter'd by the Sword . Charity , from which pious sorrow springs , would cause him to shed most Tears for such . And so it behoves us all to do . To mourn more for our sinning , than for our suffering Brethren . And tho' we be short of the Prophet in Goodness , yet in Proportion to our Virtues , and the Degrees of our Charity , let us bewail the miscarriages of that People to whom we belong .

But then besides mourning for Others , we must mourn in private for our selves . And when we do so , our mourning hath respect to three things ; to our Sufferings , to our Duties , or to our Sins . When it respects our Sufferings , it is pious Affliction . No sooner do good Men feel themselves in Pain , or fall into trouble , but they are ready to consider from whence it comes . And if upon mature consideration they find it descends from Heaven upon them , as the fruit of an offended GOD's displeasure , and a just infliction of His deserv'd severity ; it usually brings an holy Grief upon them . Thus did David fast , and weep , and lie all night upon the Earth , for the dangerous Sickness , and the threatned Death of His illegitimate Son , 2 Sam. 12. Or if in the Sufferings they feel , there be no sting of Guilt ; but all the smart of them is rather from unhappiness , than from sinful unworthiness ; and more for trial perhaps than for punishment ; yet then they are apt to relent too , and to be deeply pensive , and duly mournful in proportion to the uneasiness incident to them . So the Christians at Miletus , wept sorely , and sorrowed extreamly , to understand they should see Paul's face no more , Act. 20.37 , 38. And when our own demerits , or God's good Providence , shall at any time sink us into Infelicities ; the like afflictive Sorrow will not only become us , but likewise benefit us : and I may safely averr , it is so far our Duty , as it makes for our best and our highest Interests .

When private mourning respects our Duties , it hath the nature of Zeal in it . Thus he that is sensible he wants the Graces of Heaven , and prays earnestly for them ; and through heat , and vigour , and vehemence of his Spirit , mourns in his Supplications for the obtaining of them ; his mourning is but Zeal , which plainly discovers it self in his high Concern for his unhappy Defects , and his hearty Endeavour to get them supplied .

BEfore we go any farther , we must remember , that it is not only Mourning , and private Religious Mourning that we here treat of ; but such private and religious Mourning as is solemn . Such holy Mourning , that is , as we do not fall into by Chance or preter-intentionally ; and as we do not continue in contingently , and uncertainly , for some few Minutes according as it may happen : But such as we design and propose to our selves , and such as we deliberately chuse , and studiously promote ; wisely projecting and contriving for it , and carefully and industriously labouring after it , to raise it to the highest pitch we can , and then to keep it there for some reasonable time .